Archive for August, 2010

LEGEND OF A SUICIDE by David Vann

David Vann’s LEGEND OF A SUICIDE consists of a novella and short stories that are semi-autobiographical. Vann spent his early years in Ketchikan, Alaska where his father had a dental practice. His father sold the practice and bought a fishing boat that he hoped would provide a living. His father invested unwisely and lost a lot of money. On top of that, the IRS was after him for some investments he made in other countries. Vann’s parents divorced when Vann was about five years old because his father was unfaithful. Vann was witness to some horrific fights between his parents. His father was mercurial of mood, likely with manic-depression that appears to have been undiagnosed. After his parent’s divorce, Vann moved to California with his mother and sister. When Vann was thirteen years old, his father asked him to spend a year in Alaska with him. Vann declined. Two weeks later, his father shot himself. This book is Vann’s attempt to get his head around his father’s suicide, along with his own feelings of guilt, shame, anger, denial and fears.

August 15, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Short Stories, US Northwest

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY by Gianrico Carofiglio

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY from former anti-Mafia prosecutor, Gianrico Carofiglio is primarily a psychological tale. While the novel contains a crime story, the main focus, and perhaps even arguably the main crime, is the complete and utter corruption of one human being by another.

August 14, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: italy, Psychological Suspense

THE ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA by Isabel Allende

The mulatto slave Zarité, known as Tété, and her owner, the French planter Toulouse Valmorain form the center of Allende’s novel (THE ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA) about slavery and the slave revolt that freed Haiti.

August 13, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Caribbean, Class - Race - Gender, Facing History, New Orleans

YOU LOST ME THERE by Rosecrans Baldwin

In the isolated Soborg Institute off the coast of Maine, obsessive geneticist Victor Aaron works tirelessly to make a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research with his capable, motley crew of colleagues. Since his wife, Sara, died several years ago, he has walled himself off emotionally from relationships, frustrating his twenty-five year-old girlfriend, Regina, a research fellow and budding poet. He is fifty-eight and suffering from impotence. She is a potent, burlesque-loving young woman that dances naked for him on their routine weekly rendezvous. They keep a regular regimen of Fridays and a secret email exchange at work.

August 12, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, NE & New York

REMEDIES by Kate Ledger

In REMEDIES, Kate Ledger has written a poignant and painful novel about a marriage that is barren of communication and intimacy, left to wither after the death of a six-week old infant named Caleb. Simon and Emily Bear initially married with hopefulness and love, though Emily was as much drawn to the marriage by the potential of Simon’s future success as she was by his being her one and only. Together they have a child. When their child dies, so does their marriage.

August 11, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, Family Matters, Reading Guide

BRODECK by Philippe Claudel

There are many reasons we read: for enlightenment, escape, education, and in some rare instances, to confront ourselves with truths and insights we never would have encountered otherwise.

BRODECK is one of those rare instances. It is, quite simply, one of the best contemporary books I have ever read. And I have read a lot.

August 10, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Allegory/Fable, Literary, Translated, World Lit, y Award Winning Author